San Diego Man Charged for Knowingly Exposing 25 Men to HIV

After his ex boyfriend—who now tests HIV positive—filed a police report, the San Diego City Attorney's Office charged Thomas Guerra for allegedly exposing his ex and 24 other men to the virus. Hundreds more men could be at risk.

The unnamed man who filed the report had been dating Guerra—who also goes by Ashton Chavez and claims to be the grand-nephew of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez—for a year and was hours away from proposing when he received a Facebook message from a man claiming to be an ex boyfriend of Guerra. This man informed Guerra’s first accuser of Guerra’s HIV status.

“I believe he’s a sociopath,” the unnamed accuser tells Fox 5. “I don't think he understands what he’s doing to other people; I don’t think he understands the harm he’s causing other people.”

He also claims he found incriminating texts on Guerra's phone. "Texts where he's stating he's negative to people then bragging to others about giving people his 'positive load,'" he told CBS8. "It's crude, it's...I don't know how someone could treat another individual like that.”

Guerra has been charged with one count of willfully exposing himself, as an infectious individual, to another person. It is a misdemeanor offence, with a maximum sentence of six months and a $1,000 fine. According to the New York Daily News, Guerra's first accuser “hopes that his added allegations would boost the charge to a felony—punishable by up to eight years in prison."